Trek 820

2013

Product Details

2013 Trek 820

Trek's 820 is a great all-around mountain bike with in-town utility at a sweet price. It rolls on a great-riding steel frame with a relaxed, upright position you'll love. Up front, a bump-busting suspension fork smooths the road and trail. Plus, it sports a quick-shifting, easy-pedaling 21-speed Shimano drivetrain, powerful linear-pull brakes and quality Bontrager components.

I've had this bike for around 4 years now and I will admit that I don't take the best care of it, but it hasn't let me down. It handles my daily commute, which sometimes involves gravel, potholes, strong winds, and heavy showers, very well. My only real complaint is that it is pretty heavy.

I have been riding for about 1-1/2 years on department store bikes. I have had various issues with them and have burned thru 3 of them. I decided to purchase a real bike and visited many "real bike stores". I can't express enough how happy I am with my purchase of the Trek 820. Great bike. I have noticed that my speed, and distance has improved greatly. I felt the saddle was too hard it is very light compared to the department bikes, and I think the shocks could be a little better. I ride it 15 miles a day and enjoy every minute I get on it. I can also say that I was so impressed with the speed and distance I wrote the CEO of Trek to express my happiness. I received a return e-mail and I thought it was great. For anyone that is looking for a lower priced High quality bike, try the 820. I love it! And find myself mid-day thinking about my ride for the evening. GREAT RIDE!!! Thank you TREK!!!!!!!!
Signed,
The Happy Customer, Buddy

I bought this model back in around 2004. I have used it almost exclusively on dirt/packed/gravel trails along the C&O canal in MD. This bike is perfect for this type of riding. I do not jump or hop fallen trees with this bike but it has proven reliable and extremely durable. I have worn out 2 sets of stock tires and now have Uniroyal Town and Country which make it even better. The seat was extremely uncomfortable, but was easily fixed by adding a good gel type seat over the top of original.
As to durable, this bike survived a fall from a broken car carrier at 75 MPH on interstate 70! I saw it fall, bounce up about 10 feet and then tumble about 50 feet. When I was able to stop, I expected to back up and see a crushed pile of metal and I was going to remove it from roadway in pieces. When I got to it, I noticed the chain was off, a chunk was taken out of my seat, and the trip computer and water bottle were nowhere to be found! The rest of the bike was completely intact, NO bent pedals or other parts!! After fixing the carrier and putting bike back on rack, we continued to the trail. I placed chain back on bike and actually rode it for 22 miles, noticing just a very slight shimmy from front wheel! I have since put another 400 miles or so on it and not a glitch. My friend also saw the event and could not believe it but I do have a witness!

Bought this bike for a two mile commute and riding the local bike paths. Rode it for two weeks and loved it overall. Seems like a solid machine and it handles very well. Minor faults: the Bontrager fenders I had installed on it are plastic, and my foot hits them if I pedal while turning at a certain angle. Love the rack I had installed, which allows me to carry heavy books across town like nothing. Biggest problem so far: after hauling my kids a few miles in a trailer, I suffered significant pain and bruising in my "soft tissue." Did not notice the problem while riding, but now it is clear that the hardness of the seat combined with its shape led to significant body damage while pedaling. Still working on a modification/replacement that will solve this, but probably will not be able to ride at all for a week or more in any case. A disappointment for me as, though this is on the low end of pricing for Trek bikes, it is much more expensive than any bike I've ever purchased, and I've never had this problem with any other bike.

I ride a lot, everyday, all kind of trails, all four seasons,so I can tell how this bike works in all conditions.I got it as a gift two years ago and use it to the maximum without changing anything on it so I can say it is really durable. I ride it on trails, in the woods, on bike paved paths, climbing and descending.It seems to be great on singletracks, offroad paths and better for descending than for climbing. Tires have relatively good adherence except for rocks,ice and steep climbing.On frozen icy paths it's not good. Also on asphalt because of the tires it is a little bit too slow.You have to push those pedals really hard to get some speed.A big minus- too heavy,made of metal. It gave me terrible electric shocks under power lines because of that so I had to wrap the saddle in electrical tape .